Cadillac Fleetwood

Comments

Still got the Fleetwood? Mine's a 1994. Black on black and still going strong! Have a leak in the rear self level system though. Yanked the fuse to the air pump for now. Running blackwall tires. Looks like a Caddy Impala.

Just told by the state inspection people that both sides leak and it soaked the brakes. Seems to stop OK. Cylinders were replaced 100k miles ago. Can the brakes be cleaned or must they be replaced too? 1994 Fleetwood. Drums on the back.

Howdy all! I'm a new Fleetwood owner ('93) w/149K miles. The car has a clean history and very little work to get it back to pristine condition.

I'd like a few opinions...The vinyl roof is in need of replacement. I'm teetering on the fence whether to replace or peel (& paint if necessary). My past history with these tops (on GM products) say they like to rust from underneath. The trim at the RR pillar is already loose (I suspect rust).

I have a line on a low mileage (38K) Fleetwood Brogham that I would use as a daily driver for low price. Car was owned by an older lady who kept it in mint condition. What are the common problems, service items. Considering customizing with larger wheels, updated stereo and such, nothing to "pimp" Any thoughts on ownership would be appreciated.

Seems to be plenty of coolant, but a hose blew last summer. We cut out the plastic fitting and replaced it with a piece of copper pipe. The fitting we removed had a restriction inside it. Now on acceleration I briefly get a low coolant light. More frustrating is the lack of heat until the engine warms up - say after 5 miles. Bad thermostat maybe?

Hey guys, my neighbor is selling his 95 fleetwood 190,000km(ALL HIGHWAY)its has all the options that wer avalible in 95, and the body looks great he wants 6500 for it is that good ? and how hard are the fleetwoods to maintain what other questions should I ask him.

These are great cars and properly cared for will last a long time. Mine has 220,000 miles and has always been garaged and detailed frequently. Engine uses a quart in 4,000 and the tranny shifts like it did when I bought her with 23k miles in 1995. Black on black is a great combination - leather has some creases of course but no cracks, tears or rub marks. Had a heater problem traced to a thermostat and a broken rear window regulater. Also replaced rear wheel bearings, water pump, fuel accumulater, ignition switch, distributer, and spark plugs, brakes tires and routine stuff. Really low maintenance car and not too expensive to repair, like say an old BMW.

After 10 years the cars arn't antiques so the value hasn't started rising. But you couldn't ask for a more comfortable, imposing, reliable car! The driveline is used in police crusers and taxi cabs. Strong! I say go and get it! The price is right! Condition is everything for this puppy!

Just want to let people know that the photo of the Fleetwood Broughm shown above is not a photo of my actual car. Mine doesn't have the vinal roof. I didn't want it because they don't hold up. I don't have any digital photos of my '94 Fleetwood, but I do own one and have for 9 years.

Keep an eye on the rear wheel bearings - if they go bad they take the axle shafts with them. So replace before they break. The spark plug wires should be changed before 100k miles also the water pump. If the pump leaks it gets into the distributer and frys it. Very expensive.

My '94 had a short in the compressor. I don't know if they all do this, but mine began to manifest an annoying harmonic vibration a various speeds. It was like the u-joints were bad or driveshaft out of balance. Had u-joints replaced, driveshaft balanced, and a number of other things done without fixing the problem. Replaced the compressor and got the self-level sytem going again and the noise went away.

You can add a couple of grand and probably get one with less than half that mileage. I have had my '94 over 10 years and it has 193K on it. Was going to sell it and drive my wife's '98 Seville when I got her a new DeVille, but I have decided it is worth more to me than to most anyone else. With front engine and rear wheel drive, these cars are simple to maintain. Just keep up with normal maintenance.

WOW ! Ok thanks guys, right now im driving a 94 honda civic (I needed a car and the price was right). So Im going to sell it and get the fleetwood if there is anything eltse you guys could tell me that would be cool. The 95 fleetwood does have the vinal top, is that bad ? also I plane to make this car a dayly driver,summer and winter.

Ok, I went to test drive it today and the car would'nt start the owner of the car and I thought it might be floded. The owner had the battery out of the car for a bit and he said when he put the battery back in it fired up first try. Is this a common practice ?

You can't "flood" the fuel injected engine. I'd want to know why the battery was out in the first place. If the engine wouldn't turn over, the battery could have been bad or undercharged, or the terminals could have been dirty. If the engine was turning over but not starting, the problem is fuel or spark.

Alright, he got it running and I took it around the block (sweet ride) the owner said that he put a bit of anti-freeze in with the fule and it was good to go (that just flat out confused me)I live in Canada and we have had some freeze-thaw conditions so the owner thought it could have been a mosture issue. I was 100% but now im about 80% and I found out driving it today that the climant controle needs phreion(free-on)the owner said if the air conditioning doesnt work neither will the heater.

It may be time to start walking away from this one, especially if you are going to pay more than $4K for it. "Anti-freeze" for the gas tank actually takes care of excess moisture. Moisture in the gas tank can freeze a line in severe cold weather. As for your A/C and heater, it should be checked by a competent mechanic. The A/C system uses R134 rather than freon. Since the heater doesn't work either, the problem may be in the climate control assembly. These problems aren't particularly hard to fix, but could run up to $1000 or more real quick, depending on what the problems turn out to be. Take your $6500 and buy a Fleetwood with fewer miles on it. You can buy a nice one with everything working for that kind of money.

It's been a very long time since I posted here, especially after the thread was closed, but now I'm back.

Overall, the '93 Fleetwood Brougham is still doing excellent, but has gone through a series of issues since I was last here:

-Engine developed pretty bad spark knock/detonation and the check engine light kept coming on while cruising on the highway. Never lost power or felt anything but creamy, but did not sound good, so took it to the local GM dealer (sells everything BUT Caddy's) and they hooked it up to diagnostics and found the EGR valve, as suspected, was the source of the problem. Put a new one in, plus a new accompanying solenoid, and no more noise and no more light.

-Noticed last spring after the car sat out in a rain storm that it was leaking along the driver's side windshield top & door frame. After a while it stopped doing it there, and now leaks directly in front of the front overhead console almost every time it rains (no garage, but we try to cover it up) and has left the flip-out cupholer full of water a few times. Took it to a windshield place, but they didn't want to just re-seal the windshield because of the vinyl top, which they said could be hiding a leak underneath it. Not likely, but they wanted to do a water test before anything, and being winter still, we decided to delay it until the weather got better--hope to get it fixed SOON!

-Soon to be needing a few maintenance items, since it is now right at 99.9k miles. Namely, I'm thinking fresh transmission fluid and filter, tires (the old Atlas Pinnacles are just getting bad), and, hopefully, new shocks. The white vinyl top could also use a light freshening, so I'm going to look into getting it re-dyed since it's in perfect shape, just a little drab white instead of bright, fresh white.

Other than that, still love it, and hope to have it for a very long time! And maybe add another '93-'96 FW to the mix in the next few years to give the Roadmaster and the current Caddy a new "friend".

My black over black '94 Fleetwood just passed 220,000 miles. Noticed it's very hard to start in the rain after sitting out overnight. Suspect plug wires that are 105k miles old. What do you think? Never had any leaks, however the lower edge of the driver door trim is rubbing on the body. Door alignment? Hard to do?

Hmm, not sure on the starting problem--hopefully someone else can chime in here.

As for the door, it may be sagging a little since it's been opening and closing for 220k miles and 11 years. Then again, what part actually rubs? Is the door visibly "out of alignment" or sagging at all when you look at it?

Forget the re-dye........Heres a trick I use on my old Goat ragtop and 72 Fleetwood 75s tops snow white.

Bleach and hot water.............I scrub the top with Ajax......(keep as much off the paint as possible). Rinse, dry....then use bleach and hot water on a rag (don't let it leak or run on the paint) and wipe down the tops.

Snow White results !!!!!!!!!!!!

Ya know nowadaze there are paints that they spray on vinal roofs to maintain or change the color(s). Shiny too !..............

That's how we originally got it clean, since that was the best idea my dad came up with after getting his white Roadmaster that had a pretty nasty looking white vinyl top. Cleaned it beautifully--shiny and white like brand new. So, as natural, when we got the Fleetwood, also with a white vinyl top but not as dirty as the Buick's, we used the bleach treatment again with the same stellar results.

Problem was, over time, it not only didn't last depsite weekly washings and application of protectant, but the Buick's went back to looking very nasty (thick gray stripes/marks) and the Caddy's began to look like my weekly "scrubbings" were taking the finish off (it really does look like the white has worn off, since the top of the texture bumps is gray in some areas).

You can see the gray area on the top where I think the finish is wearing off and can't be bleached anymore (but I could be wrong).

"Ya know nowadaze there are paints that they spray on vinal roofs to maintain or change the color(s). Shiny too !.............."

Yep, that's what I was told by another Fleetwood owner, that they would re-paint his vinyl top (also white) since it wasn't cracked or damaged. That seemed an attractive option to me, if it didn't cost too much.

Just bought a 96 Fleetwood, unfortunately it's not a brougham, at a local caddy dealer. It's a medium blue (Montana blue?), no vinyl top, grey leather interior and 73K miles. The service manager plugged into the onboard diagnostics and it came back clean, so I'm hoping to get some trouble free miles out of her. The dealer is replacing the CD player before I go pick it up because it refused to spit out the CD after we tested it (glad I found that BEFORE we closed the deal) Anyways, I was just reading some of the posts here to see what some of the common problems might be and think I'll have the cooling system looked over to avoid a distributor fiasco. I'm really looking forward to driving her this summer, especially after trading in my FWD Fleetwood with 148K. Here's hoping for plenty of happy motoring.

2. Change the water pumb by aound 120,000 miles at the LATEST. I won't give much of a warning of when it's about to al, and when (not if) it does, it will ruin the "optispark" distributor that is right below it.

3. Most of these cars came with factory engine oil coolers, these lines will eventually leak, Their expensive to replace, but cabe easilty done.

4. Your gas gauge wil lie to you from day 1. the sender retails for 440, but if you make friends with the parts guy (I HIGHLY recommend this ou can get for 330, plus labor to install.

5. keep up with your steering, if thelinkages get loose, you'll get wierd sterring issues.

6. lubricate the "steering stops" at each oil change to reduce or eliminate hte "clunk" you can get if you cock the swheel all the way over when going in or out the driveway.

Check with your local GM dealers on their GM Goodwrence lifetime warranty repairs. "Goodwrench shops" have the lifetime warranty on CERTAIN items, like shocks, AC compressors, EGR valves!, etc, but not on everything!. CHECK OUT THE COVERED PARTS LIST, Soem tiems are NOT covered, especially "wear" items like brake parts. Stay away from the dealers on brake repairs, they cost almost double in some areas and I'm still trying to get the dealer to keep their 4 axle brake job mo my 2000 Eldorado from squealing!.

The Yokahama tires are doing nicely on my car. The problem is that both Goodyear and Michelin who made the OE tires for this car have stopped making the 235-70-15 tire in whitewall! I do not recommend 235-75-15 because your handling will suffer! While the yokos are ok, I'm still looking for a T or H rated 235-70-15 tire for this car (and my 1968 DeVille conv which I run the same size on). Sears used to offer a Michelin T rated, lasted 7 years on my 1968, but again nowadays, BLACKWALL only!

Anybody who finds a good white wall for this car, please post!

Yopu'll fine that the front bumper top paint might bake in the sun (mine did) and that the top of the grey moldings that go around the waistline of the entire car will bake (mine did too) and that the top of the door (where it meets the vindow) will also bake. Thsea all happenned on my car, but they can all be painted. I did the bumper top, and the waist linee moldings, I'm still getting a price on the door top moldings. Also the trim at the base of the vinyl top at the rear will bake off too. I had that done. My 166,000 mile car look nearly brand new as a result :

Why will the handling suffer with 235-75-15 tires? We're currently trying to figure out what size tire to get as replacements, either to stick with the stock 235-70-15 or go with the slightly taller 235-75-15's that fill out the wheel well better and is an easy to find size. Furthermore, our '92 Roadmaster had new 235-75-15's on it when we bought it and they seem to make that car feel better at times than the FW.

Yet, we keep going back and forth on the issue. My father originally was going to put the 75's on just because he liked how they looked on his Buick and thought the 70's just look too small for such a big tank of a car. Now he isn't sure what he likes. I still want to go with the 75's, and have been told by a few people who have done the same, that they not only fit perfectly, but the extra sidewall makes the car ride even better. The speedo will be off by about 2mph (I already calculated it with a tool on a website), but that's very minor.

What Yoko's do you have? In addition to the size, we're also trying to decide on a brand to buy too. The car currently has a set of Atlas Pinnacle's on it that are getting quite worn down and are VERY loud on the road.

having problems with fuel system yesterday it was only feeding fuel to one side of the carbaurator car sais it has electronic fuel injection now its not getting any fuel i am thinking its the engine computer does any one know how right or wrong i may be thank you for any help you may have for me